A gorilla’s life cycle starts with a gestation period, which takes about 8.5 weeks.
The gestation period in gorillas can be identified by swollen knuckles. Female mountain gorillas typically give birth at night and can do so at any time of the year.
During your gorilla trekking in Uganda or Rwanda, you will encounter gorillas of various ages, from young to old.
If you are fortunate, you may even have the opportunity to see a newborn gorilla.
Gorillas have a very low birth rate, producing offspring every four to six years and having only 1-2 fertile days in a month.
Once they conceive and give birth, they will not mate again until the baby gorilla is 4-6 years old. A female gorilla can produce only 2-6 offspring in a lifetime.
When a baby mountain gorilla is born, it’s called an infant and breastfeeds on the mother’s milk until 3-4 years of age.
They are born weighing about 4 pounds and are vulnerable. They start sitting up and walking at 3-4 months from birth.
The mother carries the baby until about 6 months when they can cling to their mother’s back until 4-6 years of age.
Sometimes, infant male mountain gorillas can be killed when the leadership of the group changes or when the mother joins another group.
This is done by a Silverback with the fear that the young males might grow and take over dominance. When an infant reaches 4-8 years, they are known as juvenile gorillas.
At this age, they can perform most activities independently, but it doesn’t mean they are mature. They can weigh 60-70 kilograms during this period.
At the age of 10-15 years, a gorilla is considered an adult, and males become blackbacks.
Females reach sexual maturity by this age before the males.
Male gorillas will continue to grow, while females might stop growing taller and only gain weight.
When male blackbacks start growing a patch of grayish hair on their backs, they become Silverbacks, marking the final stage of a gorilla’s life cycle.
At this age, males stop growing in size and weight. The average lifespan of a gorilla is 35-40 years.